Forget-Me-Not
by Ryoma and Oz
Summary: In which a girl begins to forget, and a boy tries to help her remember. [A Miraculous Ladybug/marichat Short Story]
1. Chapter 1

" _A mind wants to forget, but a heart will always remember_."

 _Remember_.

His claws scraped across the tiles of the rooftops like nails upon a chalkboard. The leather suit pulled taut against his skin as he blended in with the starry night of Paris. Heavy gasps of air heaved out of his lungs as he picked up his speed. When the balcony was soon in his sight, he leaped in the air and silently landed on its edge, prowling back and forth like an animal.

Vivid, green eyes scanned the area to find the person he was so anxiously looking for. His heart's pace quickened with worry and it felt as if it could break past his ribs and out of his chest.

He found her, in all of her beauty, wrapped up in a knitted blanket and curled up into a ball on a white, painted chair. Her face was lit up with the dim light above her head and the silver beam shining from the moon. Her hands were pressed against her cherry lips as she parted her mouth to exhale a warm breath upon her dancing fingertips. The freckles on her nose reflected the constellations of the night. Her blue eyes, that were once as clear as a crystal, were foggy, dull, and lacked luster and a yearning for life. They mirrored the Paris sky on a gray morning when the sun refused to shine and the wind was as cold as prickling ice.

A small vase filled with periwinkle and light pink flowers perched on a small table by her seat. Their petals were wilting and wrinkling, most had already fallen off, and their veins visible to the naked eye. The stems drooped and bent, unable to hold themselves upright for much longer.

The superhero blew his blonde bangs out of his eyes as he felt his worry begin to fade. "Purr-incess," He spoke with his tongue pressing against the roof of his mouth, accentuating the "r" in the nickname. He slinked down the side of the balcony and straightened up while standing on his two feet. His shoes echoed against the floor as he walked over to her side. He leaned against the wall with a hand on his hip and turned his attention to her. "Were you waiting for me? How sweet of you to do so."

She looked up with those big, blue eyes which he constantly lost himself in. They held the moon and the stars that dotted the night, and he felt like he was floating in space. He needed to constantly remind himself that blinking would be the only way to remain tethered to reality. No words were uttered from her lips, but she lowered her hands from her face and held them out to him. Her blanket slipped down to her back, revealing her dark hair, free from their usual pigtails and falling past her shoulders like a gentle, cascading waterfall.

Heartache filled his entire being. It felt crushing, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders; pushing him down until he could no longer move. He willed himself to move forward and placed his gloved hands on hers. She moved her hands to intertwine her fingers with his own, but she continued to stay quiet. The only sound she made was from her steady breathing with each exhale she made. Her gaze was glued to their interlocked hands, and her touch made his gloves go aflame. He refused to let go, however.

He was overly aware of her presence, the very thought of her distracting him from his everyday thoughts, but he didn't know of he was on hers. "Hey, Princess?" The teasing tone in his voice disappeared in the moment and vanished without a trace. He swallowed back his fear and it traveled down to his stomach, where it tossed and churned, making him feel sick as he prepared to ask a question he had asked for the past few nights. "Do... Do you remember who I am?"

Silence was her only response.

He felt as if he were talking to a wall. Impenetrable, unable to get by, hard to get past.

"Princess," He repeated, almost fervently. He tightened his grasp on her hands with the fear that she was going to slip away from him. "Who am I?"

It was quiet, and it was quick. With the blink of an eye, one could have missed the words slipping from her heart-shaped lips. But with all his focus on her, he caught her words in the palm of his hand. He held onto them tightly, placing it in a safe and knowing well that this will be the last time those two words will be uttered again.

The name rolled off her tongue with much difficulty, and almost so silently that the wind would have scooped it up in its embrace, but with her eyes still locked on their hands, the two words were barely uttered.

"Chat Noir."

His smile was sad, painted on to force a facade against his face. He reached out a hand and gently held her cheek, in which she leaned herself into him with her eyes drooping closed. His thumb caressed her face ever so carefully for he feared that she would crumble at his touch, and he could feel his eyes burn from his tears. The ring on his finger beeped and flashed a light of green, indicating that time was almost up, but he refused to leave her side.

"Yes," He said with his words as soft as snow. "Yes, that's me."

He wanted to hold her in his arms, wrapping her in a tight embrace and would never let go. He wanted to kiss her face over and over again, constantly reminding her how much he loved her. But it would be fruitless, impossible, even; he could never reach her like he could in the past. He could only touch her the way he did now.

It would be the last time she ever spoke his name again.


	2. Chapter 2

" _It's hard to forget someone who gave you so much to remember."_

Chat Noir wished that he had the power to turn back time.

He sat on the edge of the Eiffel Tower, not caring for the height between him and the ground by swinging his legs back and forth as he waited for his partner. His breath exhaled as tiny clouds from his lips and they disappeared into the air. His shoulders shivered and he rubbed his hands together to provide the slightest bit of warmth on that winter night. If only Plagg were able to provide him with a suit with heat packs installed; that would've been an ingenious idea. Perhaps he should ask the Kwami about it later.

Tonight was an important night; an anniversary, if one could consider it that way. He hoped that talking to Ladybug would get his mind off of it, but since she hadn't arrived yet, he was afraid that he would be stuck with his loneliness for the rest of the day.

Shattering his thoughts, his black, cat ears twitched as he heard the faint sound of something flying by. A flash of red flew by his sight and in the blink of an eye, Ladybug stood right next to him, recoiling her yo-yo. "Good evening, Chat Noir," She spoke casually and hung her weapon on her waist. "How's patrol so far?"

The sound of her voice sparked something inside of him. His heartbeat quickened; the mere sight of her caused his face to flush and nerves to tingle. Fireworks sparked in the pit of his stomach. Excitement rushed through his veins and he suddenly became aware of himself around her. The worries he previously had were replaced with his feelings for her.

"Fine, my Lady," Chat did his best to act casual and hide the tremble in his voice. He got up onto his feet and shifted his weight onto one leg. He folded his arms to make himself seem more confident. "Where have you been?"

"Secret mission," She quickly brushed him off, as if he were simply wasting her time. Chat Noir knew that this was an excuse to get him to stop pestering her, after all, who would she be receiving the "secret mission" from? The only two who knew about them and their kwamis were, well, them. He never tried to push the conversation; he always respected her privacy and simply accepted the fact that he would be left alone with his questions.

Ladybug did a quick glance over the sight of Paris while pushing her dark bangs out of her face to get a better view. She seemed to be in a rush to go somewhere, but Chat was happy that at least she remembered to show up to patrol tonight. He instinctively reached out to touch her hair, but quickly withdrew his hand as she turned around to face him. "There have been no attacks, right? If so, I'll be leaving. Goodnight."

She lowered her hand to grab her yo-yo, but he swiftly grabbed her wrist to stop her in her tracks. She's thin, he thought as he noticed that his fingers could easily encircle her arm. Ladybug looked up at him with a glare of annoyance. "What do you think you're doing?"

"U-Um," He stuttered, not entirely sure of how to respond. The gears in his mind turned and clicked to formulate a functioning answer. "You just got here. Why not stay with me a little longer, Bugaboo? After all, this is the perfect time for a date." He let go of her hand while giving her his classic wink and she merely rolled her eyes.

Ladybug raised her free hand in the air. "In this cold weather? I doubt it, chaton." Her head tilted, a habit she never noticed whenever she asked a question, and Chat couldn't help but find it adorable. He held back a snicker, but nevertheless, a smile crept onto his face and his shoulders shook from restraint. Either that, or it was the cold getting to him. She noticed and a frown grew as she straightened up; her eyebrows furrowing and eyes narrowing. "What are you giggling about?"

She titled her head again.

How adorable, he thought. "Oh, nothing," He replied casually, folding his arms to look nonchalant when in actuality, he was bearing the cold to talk to her. She merely shook her head in disappointment.

He had been noticing how difficult it was to talk to Ladybug; she was often wrapped up in the world of fighting that she never really spent a full conversation with him without being interrupted by an Akuma attack or their Miraculous wearing out. She tended to see their nightly patrols as more of a chore than something she willed to do on her own accord; granted, he was sure she had a life outside of saving Paris with matters that were important to her. He just wished that he had one too.

He choked down his fear and worked up the confidence to ask her, "Do you think... We could talk for a bit?" His playful tone was replaced with one of seriousness. Ladybug, noticing this, took a while to think about it before let out a sigh. She gestured at him to sit, in turn doing so herself. Pulling her legs up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and leaned her head onto her knees like a pillow.

"Alright kitty, tell me what's wrong."

Chat Noir sat himself back down and went back to swinging his legs, this time, in anxiousness. A flood of nerves paralyzed him and he didn't know how to get his words across. He gave her a nervous smile of thanks in which she returned with her own.

"What would you think it would be like to have different powers?"

Ladybug seemed to freeze at the question, slightly taken aback. He instantly thought she assumed he was crazy for asking so and would resent him forever; extreme and over-the-top, but nevertheless he couldn't help but overthink. After a moment of pondering over it, she struggled to come up with a reply and gave him her own question. "Why do you ask?"

He chewed on his bottom lip, a bit nervous of what she might think. His eyes lowered to the ground as he watched the tourists roam below. "I-I don't know," He stuttered. "I guess I always wondered how it would feel for something in my life to not be destroyed, I mean, maybe the future could be different." He internally chided himself for letting such a dangerous comment slip out; Chat didn't want Ladybug to have a grasp or the slightest understanding that he wasn't as comfortable in his outside life as Adrien Agreste than he was with Chat Noir.

She stared at him with the big, blue eyes that he loved. Every time he looked into them, it calmed his heart and helped him relax, as if he were standing on the sands of a beach with the waves gently lapping over his feet. Ladybug tugged on her pigtails to tighten them before asking a follow-up question. "Well, if you could have a different power, what would you want it to be?"

The answer came to him immediately; he had thought of this before. If he had a different power, or even perhaps, a different Kwami... What sort of future would be in store for him? The response slipped past his lips before he could think. "The power to turn back time."

The girl raised an eyebrow, now fully interested in their conversation. She folded her hands most eagerly as she continued to bombard him with the third question in a row. "Hm, reversing time. How interesting; why so?"

His voice seemed to falter. His words could barely work their way up his throat, as if they were stuck in molasses. A woman in a blue dress entered his mind and he bit his lip in order to hold back his tears. Ladybug, catching this, gently placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him in some way. "...I guess," Chat began. "If I messed up, I'd be able to fix my mistakes. I'd be able to bring back someone I lost."

Who would've known that later that night Chat Noir would desperately wish that he had the power to turn back time than he ever had before?


	3. Chapter 3

" _Sometimes I forget how much people look at you as their hero. I forget that."_

That night, Paris heard the cry of a fallen hero.

Ladybug didn't say a word; she was overwhelmed by his answer. It wasn't a necessarily bad overwhelmed or a good overwhelmed... She just was. His response wasn't quite what she was expecting. Ladybug's thoughts were jumbled; since she's never exactly had the thought of changing her power before, or lost someone she loved so dearly for a long period of time, she wasn't entirely sure on how to comfort him.

Biting her lip as she thought, she reached out a comforting hand and looped her fingers with his. She felt him flinch at her touch but relaxed himself soon after. They stayed quiet with only the song of the wind whistling by their ears, singing a cold lullaby that chilled her skin. Ladybug heard Chat Noir sniffle, but she couldn't tell if it was from him being cold or if he was holding back his tears.

"...You know," She began to say and squeezed his gloved hand tightly. "It's okay to cry."

Chat remained silent but shook his head no. Ladybug felt the grip in his hand slack and now she was the only one holding on. "I've already cried so much," His voice came out as a small whisper. "Crying won't bring her back, no matter how much I would." He slid his hand out of her grasp and stood up, readying his baton. "Don't worry about it, Bugaboo," The tone of his voice suddenly transformed to a more playful and flirty one, catching her completely off guard. It felt confident and proud... But fake and easy to shatter. "I only need you to focus on the me now, not the me in the past."

He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth and pointed finger guns at him, but Ladybug's serious demeanor didn't change by Chat's new attitude. He could feel her eyes bore into him; into his soul. She could see through his lies and his smiling mask. A wave of emotions overcame him.

She spoke and her voice was like a calm, soothing melody to his ears. It washed over him like a wave hugging the sand. Cold, but comforting. "You can't trick me Chat Noir," Ladybug whispered, without removing her gaze from his. "Your bad luck prohibits that."

He broke their connection by looking at his hands. The ring on his finger seemed to burn straight through his glove, as if etching its mark into his skin. Cataclysm; the power to destroy. The power of bad luck. Even before meeting Plagg, its curse followed him wherever it went. "Why?" Chat covered his face in shame. "The farce worked before. Why today? Why on her anniversary..?"

For one of the first times in her life, Ladybug had no idea what to do. She was lost in uncharted territory with a torn up map in her hands. She tried to piece the puzzle together, but ended up with a result that confused her even more. She wanted to help, she truly and honestly did, but one wrong move and everything could spiral into a whirlpool of disaster.

What could she possibly do to make him feel better?

Hesitantly, with the fear that he could break like glass, she reached out her gloved hand and held the side of his face. With her other hand, she reached down and took off her yo-yo and placed it in his hand. "For now, this is for you," She said, wrapping his fingers against her weapon. "I'm not entirely sure it will work, with our kwamis' powers and all, but I'll give you Lucky Charm to counter your bad luck. Just for today." She brought her eyes back up at his own. "Don't feel alone. You're my partner, right?"

He opened his mouth but no words came out. He was overwhelmed with a feeling that warmed him from his head to his toes.

Love.

That's what he felt.

The most absolute and most genuine love one could offer, radiating from Ladybug to the gift she lent him. Her love blanketed him with warmth on that cold, Paris night and he could feel the weight immediately being lifted off of his shoulders. He could only hope that she could feel the love that he was radiating in return. "Thank you," Chat swallowed back the choking feeling in his throat. "Really."

She smiled the most beautiful smile that he's ever seen and his heart leapt in his chest. He could feel his face heat up and he had a wobbly feeling in his legs. If he was standing he would've fallen and plummeted to his death because that was how much of an affect she had on him.

Chat Noir's green eyes lowered to her heart-shaped lips. He mentally chided himself for thinking such thoughts, but the urge to kiss her was simply growing stronger and stronger. Unconsciously, he tilted and bent his head, leaning himself towards her ever so slightly. She didn't move away, only so staring at him with her absolute full attention on him. Time seemed to freeze by the cold weather's touch.

And in that moment, the two were unaware of everyone and everything around them.

That's when it happened.

SLAM. Ladybug was shoved away from his grasp and flew over the side of the tower. The attack caught both heroes completely off guard. The light glow of purple followed right after with an evil cackle resounding in the air.

"CHAT!" Ladybug screamed as she tumbled to the ground.

Her arms flailed wildly, but there was nothing she could've grabbed onto.

Down and down and down she went.

There would've been no possible way he could have grabbed her in time. Chat Noir could only watch helplessly as her head hit into the ground and her blue eyes, the ones that he always fell in love with, rolled to the back of her head as she lost consciousness.

Red, bright, bright red that was the same color of her suit, trickled from behind her hair and pooled in front of his eyes. His vision was drenched in its heavy color. His name rung in his ears like the clanging of loud bells, chiming and pounding against his skull with shots of pain. Fear filled his veins for her; was she breathing? Is she alive?

Was she going to leave him too?

He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, anger fueling his ambition for revenge. Without hesitation, he leapt off the Eiffel Tower with both his baton and yo-yo in hand after the man who hurt her, and after the hero who fell.


	4. Chapter 4

_"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."_

The world shook as the fight drew to an end.

Chat Noir threw the yo-yo to the side, unable to utilize its power. The Akuma sprawled on the ground in pain, groaning with each movement as it fruitlessly tried to get up. The superhero grit his teeth and opened his clawed hand. "Cataclysm." His right hand burst into dark flames which danced wildly in the cold night's wind. His right eye twitched from under his mask as he approached the villain.

A black shroud lifted itself out of the Akuma, revealing the human who was possessed earlier; the principal of Adrien's school, Mr. Damocles. It accumulated and compacted into a small butterfly which attempted to flap its wings and fly away. Tensing his legs, Chat Noir screamed a cry of agony as he leaped into the air and caught the butterfly in his hand. The creature hardened in his hand and crumbled away to dust, falling through the cracks of his fingers as Chat landed onto the ground. He tossed whatever was left of the Akuma as far as he could and hunched over, completely out of breath.

Today had to be the worst day of his life; it was already terrible, to begin with, due to being his mother's disappearance anniversary. Tears stung at his eyes and he wiped away at them ferociously, refusing to let his weakness show.

The principal, who was still on the ground, finally got up on his feet while holding his head. "Where am I?" He muttered, looking around with anxiety filling his mind. He caught eye of the leather-clad hero who was staring him down with bright, green eyes. For some reason, instead of relief, fear sparked through his skin and trickled down his spine as he locked stares with Chat Noir. "W-What happened?" His emotions fell through with his voice as he stumbled over his own words. "Chat Noir, might you tell me how this—."

" _Leave_."

Mr. Damocles instantly took a step back. "Pardon?"

If possible, the principal could've sworn that lightning shot out of the hero's angry glare. A snarl rippled from Chat's throat and ripped from behind his fangs as the hero bent over in a sort of hunting stance. Death tainted his tone, "Are you deaf? Leave before I rip your arms off."

"E-Excuse me!" Without a moment to spare, Mr. Damocles took off into the night as fast and as far as his stubby, little legs could carry him.

Chat Noir merely stared at the retreating principal's back with his nails piercing through the fabric of his gloves. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as his chest heaved for air. The hairs were standing on the back of his neck and he felt like a predator wanting to hunt after its prey. His claws reached his skin and stabbed his palms before he snapped out of his stasis. "What..?" He straightened up and looked down at his hand, with grey ash, mixing with red, clinging to his glove. "Did I just... Kill an Akuma?" He could only watch as his hands began to shake. "What have I done?"

He turned around, and in the midst of his mental breakdown, a blur of red appeared into his vision. Ladybug. "Oh no," His words got caught in his throat and his legs broke into a run. "LADYBUG!" A small raindrop fell onto his head as his feet pounded against the pavement. Then another. Rain began to trickle down in a gentle shower as he finally reached his lady's side. "No, no, no, no," He repeated over and over again while he picked up her crumpled form. The back of her head seeped with a dark, sticky substance. Chat lifted his hand and stared at the deep red blood which enveloped his glove.

A soft beep emitted from her earrings and he bent over to see that one last spot flickered for its life.

The hero shut his eyes as a faded ray of red emitted from her suit. He wasn't sure if he should look at the girl behind the mask; the girl whom he wanted to know for so long, but there was no time. He needed to stop the bleeding wound.

Internally apologizing with guilt weighing down on his shoulders, Chat Noir slowly opened his eyes which dilated as they laid upon someone whom he never expected.

Small freckles that were hidden from her disguise dotted the bridge of her nose. She wore was a dark blazer with a white shirt and eye-catching pink pants. Chat caught his breath; after the mask came off, he couldn't help but chide himself by how obvious it was. She was the girl he loved all this time. He was happy that it was her, but he was also devastated that it was her.

"Marinette..?" He breathed, cradling the injured girl in his arms gingerly. He pressed his gloved hand against her wound, trying to stop the blood from flowing. "Oh no," His voice cracked. "Please... No. Not her." Chat pressed his lips against her cold forehead. "Anyone but her."

A small, red ball of light flew out of Marinette's earrings and landed next to Chat Noir's feet. It seemed to be a small, ladybug-like creature with antennas similar to Plagg's, which also laid unconscious by its friend.

"That must be her Kwami..." Chat muttered as he continued to apply pressure to Marinette's bleeding head.

A similar sounding beep came from his ring, and within moments, he reverted back into Adrien Agreste. Plagg spiraled out of his Miraculous onto the ground, groaning with exhaustion. "Adrien, I'm hungry," He complained. "Where's the Camembert you promised me—, TIKKI!" He mustered the energy to fly over to his friend's side, shaking the red Kwami's shoulders in fervor. "WAKE UP! WHY AREN'T YOU WAKING UP?!" Plagg gasped as he stopped his persistent shaking, realizing that Tikki wouldn't wake up from his rash action.

"They fell, Plagg," Adrien persisted against the wound, not hesitating to get his hands dirty. Who cares what sort of things his father would say when he got home; Marinette's life was much more important than any punishment. "They fell off the Eiffel Tower."

Plagg's little ears stood straight up in shock. "Off the tower?! Why couldn't she save herself with her yo-yo?!"

The blonde boy bit his lip in frustration before replying. "She lent me it. As a good luck charm."

A small sniffle came from the cat Kwami. "Well, it didn't work," Plagg hugged his friend with his small arms and wiped away at his green eyes with his paw. Adrien gazed down at his Kwami, feeling the exact same pain as Plagg did. He removed his hand to see if he had made any progress; a small amount, but it was better than nothing. The bleeding had begun to slow down, but he had no idea on how to get it to stop completely.

A loud blare ruptured the air and shattered his thoughts. In the stiff Paris ambiance, sirens flashed brightly against the buildings and its sound echoed down the streets. Two police cars and an ambulance sped down the street and hastily parked just a few feet away from him.

 _Mr. Damocles must've called them_ , Adrien thought.

One of the police officers stepped out of the car; it was Sabrina's father. Adrien recognized him from the bring-your-parent-to-school day that his father missed. Immediately, he gingerly lifted both Kwamis off of the ground and placed them in his shirt's pocket. Two paramedics came out of the ambulance and they, alongside Sabrina's father, jogged over to the fallen girl's side.

"What happened, boy?" The police officer said with his hands firmly planted on his hips.

Adrien glared, noticing that the officer didn't want to get his hands dirtied. "S-She was attacked by an Akuma," He held her tight, not wanting to let her go. His gaze didn't waver. He didn't want to let go of his princess. "Ladybug and Chat Noir went after the villain." His grip tightened on her shoulder as the police moved closer.

"Well then, move it, kid," Sabrina's father said as the two paramedics bent over and scooped Marinette's limp body out of Adrien's reach. "We're going to rush her to the hospital as fast as we can and you'll only be in the way. Go home and remember to wash your hands."

Adrien hastily got up onto his shaky legs and grabbed the officer's shirt. "PLEASE!" He begged in full desperation. "At least ride in the ambulance with her."

The orange haired officer grabbed Adrien by the wrists and pried the boy off of him. "I'm sorry, kid; protocol. No children allowed to attend without an accompanying adult." He walked away while scowling at his shirt. "Now I've got to get this dry cleaned..."

Adrien felt like a string snapped inside of him. "YOU _ARE_ AN ADULT!" He yelled with a frustrated stomp as he watched the vehicles drive away. He watched until the lights disappeared into the darkness; his eyebrows tightly knitted and his fists squeezed tight.

His heart felt as if it were ripped out by the hands of Hawk Moth himself and stepped on over and over again by the disgusting villain. He lost feeling in his legs, a numbing sensation traveled through his form, and Adrien merely tumbled onto the ground. The cold air could no longer affect him, or the restless plight against the Akuma. His mind was fixated on the fall. Adrien continuously replayed the memory in his mind as if it were on a loop. Finally, after all that tension, and after all the pain he withheld that day, Adrien Agreste let the tears fall.

The rain stuck his wet hair to his forehead and trickled over his cheeks. His clothes clung to his skin restlessly like a child desperate for attention, but he didn't care. Adrien covered his face, his whole body racking with sobs. His shoulders shook and his arms trembled as he wiped away at his face again and again. The tears were endless; they cascaded like a waterfall. His cries awakened Paris' steady slumber.

Plagg peeked out of his pocket and could only look somberly at his crying companion. There was nothing he could do.

 _It's my fault_. Adrien told himself. I couldn't catch her in time. _I took the only thing that could've saved her._

 _I couldn't rewind time._


End file.
